Designed by Helen Roberta Fitzgerald. Picture and lettering engraved by Donald J. Mitchell.

Hidden Date

The hidden date for this stamp can be found underneath the base of the tree.

About Stamp

Canadians have a particular interest in the movement, as the idea of the Women's Institute was conceived in 1897 by Mrs. Adelaide Hoodless of Hamilton, the first Institute coming into being at Stoney Creek, Ontario. Another Canadian, Mrs. Alfred Watt, M.B.E., spread the idea of an international organization to Europe. At a meeting in Stockholm in 1933 she was named the first president of the Associated Country Women of the World, as a mark of esteem for her extensive efforts to unite rural women's clubs into an international body.

The Federated Women's Institutes of Canada, the national organization, was formed at Winnipeg in 1919 with Judge Emily Murphy as the first president. The Federation represents 95,000 Canadian women. The Cercles des Fermières started in Quebec in 1915 and now has over 785 groups with approximately 47,000 active members. About fifty technicians are employed to give instructions in the domestic and culinary arts. Woven, carved and other handicraft articles made by members have found such favour with tourists that the Cercles maintain shops in many localities to make their products available to the public.

Women of the World

A female figure is kneeling beside a tree over which the globe is poised. The words "Associated Country Women of the World" and "Union mondiale de Femmes Rurales" form the border. The design symbolizes growth, as cultivated by country women, of individual country organizations into the world association as represented in the globe.